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At the end of nineteenth century, the king of Badung had assembled a truly superior group of dancers to perform at court. Some of the artistes were of brahmana caste, while others were commoners. Ida Bagus Boda, who was to later conceive the modern choreography for the condong (lady in waiting) in Legong, was leader of the group. Since there were five dancers who were all expert performer of Topeng (mask perfoermance), Ida Bagus Boda was inspired to devise a performance in which the entire group could take a part. He called it Topeng Panca (Five-man Mask performance).

Topeng Panca performance on Bali Arts Festival 2006

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The following is rough picture of how performance may originate in Bali. There is a temple feast coming on; what dancers shall be asked? “Let us fetch those good dancers from —.” Not all of them can come. “Never mind, let those come who can; we will change the story, or find another people to fit in.” so they arrive. The dresses do not fit, one is ill and cannot dance; another takes his place. The audiences are already assembled, expecting something splendid, lamps are lit. But first the dancers must eat, then they must dress. Slowly they eat and dress. Then some one says: “we really must begin” the gamelan of course already playing. Meanwhile, the chief actors are still occupied discussing the story. If you ask at this stage what the play is to be about you will only get the answer “I don’t know yet.”

The first thing to do is to send out the condong (attending of the principal lady), who must go first and announce her mistress. A message is sent to the gamelan, to play a condong melody. She comes out, and wind deviously about the stage in the usual condong dance, uttering the usual words which the lady-in-waiting addresses to every princess: “Come out, my Lady, do not tarry. The way is made smooth, all is ready for your coming.” At this stage her mistress is only generalized princess, with a generalized title for a name. After she has been appealed to for some time in vain, this abstract lady winds her way out, and dances and converses with her attendant. She is perhaps still in ignore of her identity; in fact there was an occasion when the heroine played her part throughout without discovering who she was, though her nose had been cut off without knowing it, in the course of the play.

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Gambuh, a classic dance drama that now is in the edge of extinction, is considered as the ancestor of all Balinese dances. All dance-technique originates in its movement, all scales and melodies from its peculiar gamelan. It is so rare that a Balinese may never see a gambuh performance throughout his life.

The origin of gambuh can be traced back to 1007 A.D. the first mention of gambuh appears in a lontar, palm leave manuscript, with a Candra Sengkala (a method of expressing time), in the year of 929 Caka or 1007 A.D. This lontar mentions that in 1007 A.D. King Udayana Warmadewa of Bali had married a Javanese princess from Daha, east Java, named Cri Gunapriya Dharmapatni. When the princess went to Bali, in her entourage she brought Javanese dancers and artist with her. According to the lontar, King Udayana was very fond of Javanese dancing and in this period developed the dance known as gambuh, here is an excerpt from the lontar:

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